The Jakarta Post, page 10
With shopping malls springing up all over Jakarta offering one-stop entertainment for the entire family and a lack of public parks in the capital, the leisure activities of Jakartans usually revolve around their nearest mall.
However, Club Kembang (Flower Club) in Kemang, South Jakarta, offers alternative activities for both children and parents. As visitors enter the gate, they can check out the lists of activities to be held written on a blackboard with colorful chalk, before finding a spacious open space playground where a sandbox, trampoline and slide are located. Those facilties seemed to be favorites among children judging by how many of them gathered around them.The club also offers other activities such as kids yoga, kids muay thai and an art studio.
Lucky Palupi, one of the representatives of Club Kembang said, they partnered with Ganara Art Studio, which was responsible for art activities and the Weekend Workshop [WeWo] community, the organizer of craft-related activities such as making tie-dye T-shirts.
A teacher from Ganara Art Studio, Indira, believes in the importance of arts and crafts for child development. She said, Arts and crafts helped improve fine motor skills, which were extremely important for their development, from one-and-a-half to 4 years old. It was important for children to explore their surroundings through motoric activities. To keep everything fresh, she added, she usually had different themes every week, especially on special occasions like Halloween or Thanksgiving.
Club Kembang, part of the 40-year-old Sekolah Kembang, was established in September 2014, based on the idea of the school’s director, Marvin Suwarso, who wanted to create a family oriented establishment. Marvin had an idea to create a place to foster the love of art, environment and family. Based on that mission, Adinda Simandjuntak, the founder of Club Kembang, came up with several ideas for club activities.
Asked about the lack of playgrounds for kids in the city, Lucky shared her concerns. Children need to play, she said, they need to sharpen their sensory skills through various activities, and parents have to support them in any way possible. She added that nature had a lot to offer and she asked all children in Indonesia to go out and play, explored their surroundings and had fun.
